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Upside Down
DM *Birchqueen Players *Bren d'Kundarak , dwarf rogue *Anlin d'Sivis, gnome sorcerer *Cade Brushgather, halfing bard *Renvar d'Phiarlan , elf monk/sorcerer Introduction WANTED: A team of 3 to 4 Wayfinders to meet with Capt. Nicholas Angel at his office in the Sharn Guard outpost. Any historians or explorers are urged to apply. : Wayfinders - Received anonymous note -- think it may concern a rather recent purchase of several Xen’drik artifacts. Meet me in my office. May need some "extralegal" help. - Capt. Nicholas Angel, Sharn Guard Expedition Summary The Wayfinders met at the Sharn Guard in Captain Nicholas Angel's office. There they learn that someone has sent him an anonymous note in childish script. The Heir has the rod, cup, coin and mask. I don’t want to go home. Although he recognizes there's been no crime, this sets off Capt. Angel's cop senses. He believes, although he can't prove, that this has something to do with a recent Kundarak auction. He asks the Wayfinders to investigate this "off the record." If it turns out to be nothing, so be it. The Wayfinders started their investigation at the last place the items were seen, the Kundarak auction house. There, they met Emme d’Kundarak who kept the auction house ledger, and a pair of Boromar thieves trying to steal that same ledger. After a short fight with the thieves, one managed to escape and ran off. Desperate for the information in the ledger, the Wayfinders interrogated the other thief who directed them to a warehouse in the Cogs. Inside the warehouse they met a midlevel Boromar boss named Greta. Greta made them a deal -- they help her deal with some Tyrants muscling in on Boromar turf and she’ll allow them to have the ledger. The Wayfinders agreed, and headed to a small apartment to confront the Tyrant who had been shipping in dream lily via auction from Sarlona. A short fight later and the Tyrant was dead -- and Greta was satisfied. She gave them the ledger. The name in the ledger belonged to a shy Tiefling named Quintessence. They asked around at a bar in the Cogs if anyone knew a Quintessence and met a ranger and some gnolls. After a rousing game of darts, they learned of Quintessence’s house and set off. What they found there, shocked them. Quintessence was dead. The only thing left was a note sent from a town named Desperation in the Shadow Marches, information implicating a Kundarak excoriate named Maggur and the coin. Left with no other leads or recourse they slept for the night. During the night they were troubled by strange dreams -- A nothing man controlling dangerous devices, a swamp witch and then a vision of their loved ones. They ignored the dreams and set off to the library at Morgrave for more information. They found a map of Desperation but no other information on the artifacts. They slept again and were again troubled by strange dreams, this time including a noble Gatekeeper. Finally curious about what the dreams could mean they sailed to the city of stilts, Zarash’ak in the Shadow Marches. They literally asked the first person they saw about Maggur and the artifacts. The man selling bits of fried crocodile has no clue about any of that, but he directed them to a swamp witch named Mad Sarah. Mad Sarah appeared out of the swamp and told their fortunes -- warning them of a strange cry they should ignore, horns they should stand their ground against and something black and blue. Then she wandered away. The party set out into the swamp led by the map they carried. After several days travel their peaceful romp through the swamp was interrupted by a strange cry. They ran to it and were horrified to see a killing machine from their dreams. They tried to fight it, but ran away. Tired and weary they eventually came upon a blessing of unicorns with byeshk horns. The unicorns challenged the Wayfinders, but the party chose to ignore their challenge, so the unicorns took off. Eventually the Wayfinders made their way to Desperation, a former Sivis dragonshard mine. Out of the three buildings in front of them, they found the one with the money, Lucky. A child’s scream pierced the night, but only Cade seemingly cared. He ran to investigate and found a child with one black eye and one blue eye being protected by the Gatekeeper from his dream. Cade helped, then left to go find the party. He told them what he found, but the party decided to head down deeper into the mine without investigating the child or the Gatekeeper. At the entrance of the mine they saw a figure running in a gold mask. They chased the figure and confronted it. After a short fight they successfully captured Maggur d’Kundarak. He was obviously mad. They interrogated him and learned that he had met a strange “nothing man” after being excoriated. The man promised him a new, everlasting life, with Maggur in charge. He went all in on this vision and had his people adopt several orphaned children for the nothing man to experiment on, before or possibly while he was being driven mad from the gold mask. The party could only find pity in their hearts for this guy. They wanted to do him a solid and help him back to civilization. So they headed down the untread left-handed path to confront the nothing man. They again saw a vision of their loved ones warning them to turn back, but no one shared what they learned and they continued on regardless. They were met at the bottom of a hallway by a seemingly weak-looking quiet slip of a man. He welcomed them heartily and told them to just leave him to his work. They could blame it on Maggur, and keep the mask if they wish. The party was super creeped out so they decided to take him up on that and leave. Before they left, the nothing man bestowed them with fleshwarped gifts. Each of them got something special. Nice. The party, lost and confused went to go collect Maggur and try to find the unicorns again, or that Gatekeeper Cade saw saving the children. They were able to track the Gatekeeper pretty easily as he was towing a bunch of kids. The Gatekeeper orc introduced himself as Okuush and the little black and blue eyed girl introduced herself as Lettie. They all went together to the tree-top village of Gaaz'uur Kressh -- the home of several old Gatekeepers. The Wayfinder met the rest of the orcs and had a slight squabble over the potential Daelkyr taint of Maggur. For Khorvaire’s safety, they blinded Maggur. Tensions aside, the Gatekeepers allowed the Wayfinders to retrieve an artifact from their mystical tree, Aagutersh Shok and pledged their assistance against the nothing man, a daelkyr half-blood. The Aagutersh Shok healed the Wayfinders of their taint. Then the only thing left was re-confront the half-blood and kill him. After a thrilling battle they did just that! In order to prevent future taint the Wayfinders were tattooed by Sha’ron, a Gatekeeper. Then they accompanied Lettie, Okuush, Maggur and all the rest of the children out of the swamp. Epilogue The day after the Wayfinders leave the old Gatekeepers return to Mine 16, and what was once Dǝsdǝɹɐʇᴉou. The only things left standing are the two small shacks and the inert killing machine. The other is strewn across the ground in pieces. The bodies of the cultists are still gone. But the Gatekeepers do not seem worried. They know the swamp reclaims its dead. Instead, the Gatekeepers seem determined as ever. They bring their hide drums and seed gourds and clay bowls filled with precious, clear springwater. They begin to chant, their voices harmonizing in an ancient dialect. It takes almost a full day but eventually, between the four of them, they are able to cause a small earth tremor. The moons are just starting to rise as the ground trembles. The beams supporting the mine splinter and crack and give way. A cloud of dirt is expelled in a woosh as the mine is buried. Panting, the Gatekeepers wordlessly and slowly start to gather their things and leave. They know they do not have long now. This old magic has taken its toll. It is likely one of them will not live to see morning. Perhaps the bard or the Kundarak will do as they say and send them help, but they can not afford to hope for too much. Instead, they will do what they have done for thousands of years. They will keep their tradition. They will keep watch for Daelkyr. And they will fight, even unto death, to protect Khovaire. As he leaves, Varrk'guur kicks at the inert killing machine. It doesn't move. He scowls at it but hobbles off, nursing his stubbed toe. Several hours later the moons are high in the sky. There is a click. Then a crackle. Lighting shoots out from the inert killing machine in an arching bolt. Steam hisses from it as it suddenly bends at the waist. Then it straightens up and turns to the collapsed cave. It begins to dig with its dagger fingers. Yay! Buried treasure!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ tee hee Category:Expedition